The present invention relates to an aid to be used by a wood turner to ease the process of creating hollowed vessels on a wood turning lathe. Wood turning lathes have been used for creating hollowed vessels for many years. Typically, a wood turner mounts a log or other medium onto a lathe and then uses a handheld cutting tool to remove the solid wood from inside the log while leaving an outer rim that forms the walls of the vessel.
Usually, a tool rest is placed next to the endgrain of the log and the handheld tool is advanced into the end grain of the log to hollow the wood. This process is difficult for several reasons. First, there are forces placed on the tool that tend to push the tip of the tool downward as well as rotate the tool around its long axis. As long as the tool tip is close to the tool rest, the forces are minimized. However, as the log is hollowed, the tool tip moves farther from the tool rest. The tool rest acts as a fulcrum and much more force is needed to control the tool tip. This becomes more pronounced as the depth of the vessel increases.
The present invention is directed to a hollowing system that controls the tool movements along certain axes while allowing full movement along other axes. Thus, the tool can be advanced or retracted to shape the inside of the vessel without having to fight the significant forces being generated. This results in much easier, faster and safer removal of the solid wood to form the vessel.